


It's High School and It Sucks

by incrediblydeadlyviper



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Chaptered, Detention, Fist Fights, Fluff, High School AU, Hispanic Lance (Voltron), Inspired By Tumblr, Inspired by Music, Keith has a motorcyle, Keith has anger issues, Keith is a delinquent, Keith is an awkward baby, Lab Partners, Lance (Voltron) Being a Little Shit, Lance (Voltron) Has ADHD, Lance (Voltron) Speaks Spanish, Latino Lance (Voltron), M/M, Mild Blood, Mild Language, Music, Physics, Slow Burn, Zarkon is an evil teacher, keith doesn't know how to people, kind of, klance, minor shiro/allura, mostly just lance and keith, where is pidge??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-29 06:14:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7673170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/incrediblydeadlyviper/pseuds/incrediblydeadlyviper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>There were stars on the ceiling, Keith noticed, his head spinning. His nose was bleeding profusely now and he wanted nothing more than to rip Lance’s smug head right off his shoulders. Now, it was personal.</i>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In which, Lance and Keith mess up their physics lab and each other's faces.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Kiss With A Fist

**Author's Note:**

> This is the high school fight and detention au that nobody asked for, but I couldn’t resist writing. This was supposed to be one chapter lol but Keith has a lot of feelings that need to be expressed, okay. Recommended playlist: Teenagers by My Chemical Romance, Microphone by Coconut Records, Kiss With a Fist by Florence and the Machine, Bruises by Chairlift

_Ring._

Keith sighed and stood up from his desk, grabbing his already packed up books and shoving them into his bookbag. It was only second period and he already wanted to die. He debated skipping as he walked out of Advanced British Lit and surveyed the bustling hallway full of equally as bored and or boring teenagers. Despite his reluctance to be here, he knew that he had to stay. Keith had been at this school for six months and he’d already had detention fourteen times and a threat of expulsion. Apparently, breaking the nose of the principal’s son was seen as “inappropriate conduct.” Nevermind that he had been verbally assaulting the kid next to him with homophobic slurs. No, the administration never seemed to want an explanation, just an excuse to silence the parents which usually came in the form of Keith’s punishment. 

It wasn’t like Keith looked for trouble. He just couldn’t help but stand up for himself. With his fists. How was it his fault that there were so many assholes at his school? Except that it wasn’t only this school. It was every school that he’d attended. Keith had been expelled from two schools for violence and he couldn’t add another to the list. Because every time he was expelled, a social worker came to deliver him to a new set of foster parents. He wasn’t extremely close to the ones he had now but they were kind and most importantly, didn’t push. 

Well, whatever. He didn’t want to skip third period anyway, Advanced Physics being his favorite class. His lab partner was a dumbass, but his teacher, Mr. Takashi, made up for it. Mr. Takashi was the only teacher that treated Keith with kindness and for that he almost never missed his class. Keith was the ranked first in his eleventh grade class which made his courses impossibly easy and mind-numbingly dull. When he had told that to his other teachers, however, they hadn’t exactly agreed. In fact that had been the reason for his thirteenth detention. 

Keith entered the chemistry lab and took his seat near the red spaceship model. Mr. Takashi seemed to have them scattered all over his room, sometimes even taking time out of the curriculum to talk about one of his many theories regarding the final frontier. Keith always enjoyed those days the most, as he also had an interest in the topic. But from the looks of the seemingly miscellaneous metal tools organized neatly on the desk, they would be doing a lab today. _Ugh._ He wished that he’d ditched when he had the chance. Keith absolutely hated labs. Because that meant that he couldn’t ignore Lance and that he would have to actually _work_ with him. 

Now, you’d think when the two smartest kids in school were lab partners, even if they didn’t get along, there was no way they could fuck it up right? Wrong. Their last lab had ended in a trip to the school nurse and Mr. Takashi covering their asses with the promise that they wouldn’t argue while holding dangerous scientific equipment again. Easier said than done. 

After that, Keith had stayed after class in an attempt to persuade Mr. Takashi to let him switch partners. To his surprise, before Keith even opened his mouth, his teacher had refused. When Keith had pressed for an explanation, he had prattled on about how Keith needed to “learn to work with others” and not worry because he “knew he would work it out.” Mr. Takashi then proceeded to give him a soft smile, his signature _I have faith in you, son dad_ look that Keith absolutely despised. That was Mr. Takashi’s way of locking him to a promise with the only escape being the disappointed look his teacher would give him if he failed and that was not an option. The last time he had been on the receiving end of that pained expression, he’d wanted to throw up. Just thinking about the horrible knots that had formed in his stomach triggered a barely suppressed shiver. Nope. Never again. 

He looked around for Lance, who was still absent from the seat to his right (and hopefully from the school) ready to propose a truce at least for today when he noticed another person missing from their usual spot. Mr Takashi’s seat was empty. Considering that there was only a minute left before class started, this was somewhat uncharacteristic. Keith only had to turn his head to the open doorway and his tiny frown changed into a wide smirk. Mr. Takashi was currently blushing, flustered at the sudden contact of Ms. Allura, the twelfth grade history teacher. She had placed her hand on Mr. Takashi’s arm and smiled, seemingly oblivious to his erratic behavior. 

Keith continued to spy on the two lovebirds until a boisterous figure blocked his view. Keith scowled as Lance came bounding in the classroom, panting and out of breath as if he had sprinted across the school to get there on time. 

“Safe!” he yelled and leapt onto the stool next to Keith, his eyes racing to Mr. Takashi’s desk only to discover that he was currently MIA. Well, to Lance anyway. 

“Aww, what? The one day I’m actually on time and he’s not even here? Figures,” Lance whined, forcing Keith to roll his eyes. 

Sitting next to Lance wouldn’t be so bad if he didn’t narrate everything. Whether they were completing a worksheet, watching a video, or sitting there doing absolutely nothing, Keith could always count on Lance stating something either stupid, entirely irrelevant, or both. Keith figured he must have some disorder like ADD or ADHD that caused this but that didn’t mean it wasn’t annoying as hell. Especially when those comments were sometimes insults directed at him. 

Since the first day he’d transferred to Voltron High School, Lance had been trying to best him. At first, it was just the little things, like when Lance’s crush Nyma had left her seat next to him to flirt with Keith, or when he got a better time than him on the mile in P.E. but when the class ranks had been released, things had gotten personal. Lance vowed at that moment that he would beat Keith no matter what it took. And Keith? Keith couldn’t care less. Just because some crazy kid that was obsessed with him declared that Keith was his rival didn’t mean he had to do anything about it. He supposed that only fueled Lance’s fury, but the last time he checked that wasn’t his problem. 

After a few more nervous laughs and bright pink blushes, Mr. Takashi was stepping into the room with an adorably, dazed look on his face. Keith almost smiled at that but then Lance opened his mouth again.

“What the heck, Takashi? I was on time today and you weren’t here to witness it.” 

“I’m sorry, Lance, I had more important matters to take care of besides your punctuality. Though if you made it a habit, I’m sure I would be more likely to notice your promptness,” said Mr. Takashi, a slight smile dusting his face. 

“Oh, ha ha, very funny. And what were those ‘important matters,’ Mr. Takashi, Ms. Allura’s Friday dinner plans?”

_Okay, maybe everything he said wasn’t dumb_ Keith thought, shielding his grin. 

“Alright, that’s enough,” said Shiro, his face the color of a strawberry, “I need to explain the lab before we run out of time to finish.” 

The class collectively groaned. Lance’s disapproval was the most vocal. _At least, we can agree on something._ Lance probably hated being lab partners even more than Keith did because working with him meant not winning to him. Not that Lance had ever won, but still. It was a battle he wasn’t allowed to fight and it obviously irritated him. And, Keith guessed, just the thought of working together with his self-proclaimed arch-nemesis. 

As Mr. Takashi began his tutorial on the lab they would be doing, Keith saw Lance slip his phone out of his pocket and rapidly tap the touch screen, sparks flying. _Great, I guess I’ll have to summarize it for him._ He was probably texting his best friend Hunk. Keith had talked to him a few times in AP Statistics when Hunk had needed help on some of the problems. He liked him as Hunk was one of the few high schoolers that he’d met that didn’t judge him in the first five seconds after speaking with them. They weren’t close or anything but Keith could confidently label him a friend and count on last minute homework or a recap of class he’d ditched. He’d even asked what Lance’s deal was once to which he only got a chuckle and the reply that “Lance is just Lance. Honestly, you should be flattered,” and the assurance that he really was a good guy deep down. 

“Lance is, like, the friend who annoys you to no end but if you were ever in any trouble they would be by your side the whole time, you know?” 

Keith wasn’t sure if he _did_ know. He’d never had any close friends what with moving around so much and his oh-so-approachable attitude. Whenever someone tried to get close to him, he would distance himself, and fade out of their life. It was easier that way. 

That was one thing Lance was better than him at. Lance’s contact list was never-ending while Keith was nearing fifteen. He kept only the essentials. Lance befriended everyone he met. Excluding Keith, of course. 

Mr. Takashi was nearing the end when Lance hid his phone once more and “whispered” to Keith, “So, what are we doing?”

“Well, thanks to your big mouth I missed the ending of the explanation, so I don’t know. And if you’d been listening in the first place, you wouldn’t have to ask me.”

“Jesus, what’s got your panties in a twist?” 

_You._

“And it’s not my fault you don’t have any friends.” 

_Ouch._ Keith wondered if he would have still said that knowing it’s true. Probably. 

“Look I just want to get this lab over with as quickly as possible so that we can stop talking. That means actually understanding how to do it, genius.”

“Uh, duh. That’s why I need you to tell me, mullet.”

Keith sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day, “Fine. And don’t call me, mullet. First, we take the soldering iron and…” 

After about five minutes of repeating himself because Lance had the attention span of a hyperactive squirrel and mild bickering, Lance finally seemed to grasp the gist of the project, and they were ready to start. 

“Alright, so we just attach the pieces of the buzzer, melt them in place with the soldering thingy, and then plug it in and test it, right? Sounds easy enough.”

Oh no. Keith could already see Lance’s mouth pulling up at the corners into that overconfident grin he always wore right before he fucked something up. 

“It’s a soldering iron and you won’t be using it. I will, because we all know you can’t handle potential fire hazards.”

“Hey! It was one time!”

“One time too many if you ask me,” Mr. Takashi chimed in lightly as he was now circling the room in search of panicking children. 

Keith sniggered as Lance gave him a nasty look. 

“Shouldn’t you be promoting second chances, and all that inspirational crap?”

“Normally, yes, but when it involves fire and the safety of my students, then, no. Sorry, Lance, but I think you should let Keith take the lead this time. Besides, he wasn’t the one on his phone when I was teaching you how to do it, now was he?”

“But-- that’s not-- he always-- ugh, whatever!” Lance sputtered as Mr. Takashi moved on to the girls next to them who were staring at the tools with a look of pure bewilderment. 

Lance usually tried to do the most work on lab days, his mind registering that as him beating Keith in some weird, twisted way. Which was fine by Keith as, though Lance may be an idiot, he _was_ ranked second in the school and fiercely hardworking, so Keith trusted him to do it correctly. But after the incident of October 9th with the Bunsen Burner, Lance had no longer been trusted with heating tools. Banned from using them ever again on school property were the actual words used, but that was just a minor detail. 

Lance grumbled and complained, but he assisted Keith by holding the parts in place and providing the solder which allowed Keith to overlook his comments. They were almost finished attaching the last piece and they hadn’t killed each other, so Keith thought it was going pretty well. 

“Aaand, done,” Keith said as the last piece was secured. 

“Come on, let’s try it out. Give it to me,” Lance said, excitement lighting up his eyes.

Keith would never admit it, but if there was anything good about being lab partners with Lance it was how cute he looked when they finished their projects. He was such a physics dork that he wore this earnest look on his face like a kid on Christmas morning. Keith had heard him mention to a friend that he wanted to work at NASA and that’s why he tried so hard in his academics. As irritating as he could be, Keith hoped he would work there one day, though he had no doubt that his dream would come true. 

Lance snatched the device out of Keith’s hands and jammed the plug into the socket. 

“Hey, be careful, dumbass!” 

“Look, it’s fine, all that great teamwork remember? Now, let’s see if it works.”

Keith scrunched his nose, but they had worked hard on it and he was curious to see if it worked as well. He shrugged and moved closer to the buzzer. 

“Okay. Fire it up.”

Nothing.

“...Did you turn it on?”

“Of course I turned it on, moron. You must have messed up on your part. I knew I should have done it.”

“My fault? You were the one who was supposed to be putting the pieces in the right spots. You probably had me connect something wrong.”  
“Don’t blame me for your screw-ups-- you know what, give me that!” Lance was now flailing his hand in Keith’s direction, aiming for the soldering iron. 

“No, you’re not allowed to use it.”

“It’ll be fine, just let me--”

“No, don’t--”

“Hand it ov--”

“No! Shit, Lance!”

Lance had been wrestling Keith for the soldering iron when it slipped out of both of their hands and flew through the air. _Wham!_ The iron had zoomed right past Mr. Takashi, narrowly missing his head, and landed straight in the wall. It stuck for a second and then fell to the ground, a black mark burnt into the white paint. 

The whole class, including Mr. Takashi, was staring at the two boys, but all Keith saw was red. He felt his face scrunch up. _Fucking Lance. This is all his goddamn fault._ Keith grabbed Lance by the collar and punched him in the jaw. Lance’s face went from confused to angry in a split second, and he lunged at Keith, tackling him into the lab table behind them. Keith grabbed the table for support and spun out from under Lance before he landed the blow intended for Keith’s face. Keith grasped a handful of Lance’s hair and slammed his face into the tabletop. When Lance’s head came back up his nose was openly bleeding, blood streaming down into his mouth and onto the floor. Keith thought he heard someone scream in the background but before he could check, Lance had kicked his feet out from under him. He was yelling what sounded like Spanish swear words at him. The next thing he knew, Lance was straddling him with his fist raised. Keith closed his eyes and braced for impact. 

Only the pain didn’t come. He opened his eyes to see Mr. Takashi holding back a madly struggling Lance, his hair disheveled and his eyes wild. 

“Alright, alright! Break it up!” Mr. Takashi said as he attempted to separate the boys.

“But, Takashi! Look what he did to my beautiful face! I didn’t even get to hit him yet,” Lance said, giving his best sad puppy dog face. 

Keith smiled as there was no way Mr. Takashi was going to let him get away with that.

“Well… okay. But just one, and this is completely off the record, boys.” 

“What?!” 

“Yeah! You’re the best, Takashi!” 

Keith opened his mouth to protest more but before any sound could be released, Lance’s fist was crashing into his face, landing with a sick crunch. 

There were stars on the ceiling, Keith noticed, his head spinning. His nose was bleeding profusely now and he wanted nothing more than to rip Lance’s smug head right off his shoulders. _Now,_ it was personal.

“Lance!”

“What?” he was practically ecstatic.

“I said you could hit him, not break him!”

“Hey, you did not specify. I can’t be blamed for your bad directions.”

Mr. Takashi sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, looking older than Keith had ever seen him. “Whatever, you both have detention anyway, so it doesn’t matter. Now, both of you go to the nurse’s office.”

Oh no. Serious Mr. Takashi was back and now here came the look. Mr. Takashi held his hand out to Keith after Lance had removed himself from his ribs and when their eyes met, he got the message loud and clear. _I expected more from you._

\--

Fuck Lance. He wanted nothing more to do with that idiot. Except that now they had to walk to the nurse’s office together and explain to him why they were both holding wads of bloody paper towels to their noses. Great.

To make matters even worse, apparently, they would be spending detention with Mr. Zarkon. That guy was the worst. Neither of them were in his class, but he was infamous at Voltron. Kids were constantly trying to switch out of his class because he was exceedingly strict and gave homework every night starting on the first day of school. Barely any of his students received As, and even Bs were a rare commodity in his class. After the eleventh parent complaint, the principal had ordered that he curve the grades at the end of the year. He combatted the curve by agreeing to it but increasing the difficulty of the classwork as well. He was truly a monster. 

Keith shuddered and quickened his pace as he was now a few steps behind Lance. He hadn’t said anything since the fight and Keith was starting to worry. It’s not like he cared or anything, he had just beat the shit out of him for fuck’s sake, but it wasn’t like Lance to stay quiet. Keith didn’t know if he’d ever heard him this quiet. Even when he had nothing to say, he was talking. He only thought it was weird, that’s why he was even thinking about it. 

He peered over at Lance’s face and his eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. Lance was...smiling. His mouth was partially concealed by the paper towels, but Keith could see corners of his mouth, bloodstained and bruised, turned upwards. His eyes were soft and steady as they came upon the school infirmary. “Are you okay?” Keith said, momentarily forgetting that he had been the cause of Lance’s pain, but the scene was too strange not to question. In an instant, the gentle expression was replaced with a deep scowl, and Keith thought the face he witnessed seconds earlier must have been imagined. Lance’s punch must have done more damage than he’d thought. 

“What do you think? You smashed my flawless face into a tabletop.” Lance snarled, mouth foaming. 

Keith unsheathed his fangs and replied, “Flawless? If anything, I improved your looks. And none of this would have happened if you hadn’t tried to kill Mr. Takashi with the iron which you were never supposed to have in the first place.”

“Well, if you hadn’t screwed up our project, I wouldn’t have had to fix it! It’s your fault that--”

“How was it my fault? You were the one who--”

“Boys!” came a loud voice from the doorway of the nurse’s office. Nurse Coran was standing there with a look of disapproval on his face, his arms folded and his moustache twitching.  
“This is a place for treating injuries, not creating new ones. Now, come inside so I can assess the damage.”

The boys looked at each other, both slightly uncomfortable, but knowing that the only way for them to get treated was if they got along for a while. Because Nurse Coran didn’t play around. If he got fed up with his patients, he would send them out and refuse to treat them. Keith knew because it had happened while he was in there once before. He’d gotten in a fight at lunch and both of them were being tended to when the other boy, Sendak, tried to finish what they’d started. Nurse Coran had immediately sent him out and when the Sendak asked what to do about his bleeding mouth, Nurse Coran had replied “the bathroom is down the hall to your left” and promptly shut the door in his face. 

After forming a shaky truce through telepathic communication, Keith stepped into the room, with Lance filing in after him. He sat down on the closest bed, Lance choosing the one directly across from him. Their school’s clinic was a bit larger than the size of an average classroom with four beds lining the back wall and Nurse Coran’s desk on the left of the door. There were all kinds of cheesy posters with pictures of cute animals telling kids to wash their hands and eat healthy. His desk was littered with strange trinkets, random medical utensils, and messy stacks of documents, most likely student records. Keith wondered what his said. A picture of Ms. Allura was propped up next to the computer and Keith vaguely recalled someone saying they were related but he couldn’t remember how.

“Alright, tell me what happened. And don’t think about lying because it will only be worse for you if you do,” he said, his tone light but his threat legitimate.

The boys filled him in, trying, and somewhat failing, to tell the story without starting another argument. After interrupting each other about twenty times, Nurse Coran finally had the final picture or at least most of it. He was nodding his head as the two recapped the events that had transpired and going through the motions of the average doctor’s check up, giving extra attention to the injured areas. He poked and prodded at the boys as they winced in pain from his insensitive touch. Keith thought he was using a bit more force than necessary on the tender areas, but he couldn’t be sure. 

“Well, the good news is that it doesn’t seem to be anything serious. No visible signs of concussion or broken bones, but if the pain gets worse or you start to feel nauseous or lightheaded stop by the clinic again. The bad news is that the only thing I can give you is the promise that the pain will stop with time. I suppose you could take some ibuprofen if you’ve got some but I’m not allowed to tell you that so it’s your decision if you decide to take some. Other than that, I think the both of you will be just fine, physically at least.”

Keith frowned. _What was that supposed to mean?_ He shrugged it off and hopped off the squeaky hospital bed. At least he’d missed the majority of fourth period which was Computer Science with Mr. Haxus, who loathed Keith but loved to make him suffer. He remembered that he’d left his things in the physics classroom but decided against going to get them right now as Lance would also have to pick up his things, too. With a mumbled thanks in Nurse Coran’s general direction, Keith crossed the room and walked out, ignoring the nagging in his head that told him to glance back at Lance.


	2. Cardiac Arrest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Lance’s face relaxed and he said, hesitantly, “We could...talk. I mean there’s nothing else to do and I’m not sure I can survive another second staring at Mr. Zarkon’s weekly homework agenda.” Lance was full on flustered now, his dark skin tinged with pink._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith stuck in a room together for two hours with nothing to amuse them but each other? Oh my, whatever shall they do? Recommended playlist: Stacks by Bon Iver, Kill the Director by the Wombats, Cardiac Arrest by the Bad Suns, Gasoline by Halsey, Whistle For The Choir by The Fratellis

Keith figured there was no point in going to the computer lab and having Mr. Haxus yell at him for disrupting class, despite his obvious reasoning displayed in the wad of gauze Nurse Coran had shoved up his nose. No, he was going to his favorite place in the school, one that Lance wouldn’t be caught dead in. The library.

The library had been Keith’s favorite part of Voltron High School from the moment he’d stepped into it and the librarian, Matt Holt, had showed him where the books on space exploration were located, recommending him one of his favorites that had become one of Keith’s as well. He liked the gentle silence that, even if interrupted, always seemed to settle over the large room and the tall shelves that he could hide between with no intrusions as he was one of a handful of people who actually visited the library. It was his secret place where the teachers and students faded away replaced with paper and ink, and he could spend hours in there. 

Once, he had even fallen asleep, awoken by Matt shaking his shoulder and whispering his name. Keith had missed four class periods and was about to miss the last one of the day, but instead of scolding him the young librarian simply gave him a pass and emailed his teachers an excuse for Keith. Keith had thanked him by bringing him coffee the next morning, but he knew that there was no material repayment for what he’d done. Ever since, Matt had been covering for him, with the promise that he would only skip class to go to the library if he was in dire need of an escape, and he used the time for learning, not sleeping. 

Keith had happily agreed and was currently doing just that. Concealed by the rows of books, he was curled into a ball, reading about far off planets and star systems, oblivious to the Earth around him. All thought of the fight was gone from his head, the only remnant of that ordeal remaining in his mind was Lance. Although they didn’t get along, Keith and Lance’s career paths were headed in a similar direction and he wondered if they would meet again later on in life. He wondered why that excited him, too. His heart bounced and he shook his head. The library was Keith’s and he wouldn’t let thoughts of Lance take this place from him. 

After fourth period, Keith had lunch which he stayed in the library for as well like he always did. Hunk had invited him to sit with him and his friends a few times but that meant Lance, so he had politely declined. When lunch only had five minutes remaining, Keith pushed himself up off the ground, returned his book to the shelf, waved to Matt, and exited his haven. He strolled down the hallway and took a detour on his way to Advanced Statistics to Mr. Takashi’s room in order to collect his bookbag. He was half expecting a scolding, but when he got there Mr. Takashi welcomed him with a concerned smile and pointed to the table where his bag had been waiting.

Another thing he loved about Mr. Takashi: past transgressions stayed in the past. Even when Keith royally fucked up, he never held a grudge and continued to treat him with the same kindness he had since day one. It was refreshing and one of the main reasons Keith respected him so much. “Lance told me you got caught up at the clinic. Are you okay? I know I shouldn’t have let him hit you and I’m sorry…” Mr. Takashi rambled on, apologizing in between sentences but Keith was no longer listening. Oh. So that was why he wasn’t mad. Lance had covered for him. They both knew he had been out the door of the nurse’s office first, but he had told Mr. Takashi the opposite. But, why? Lance hated him, so why would he lie for him? Of course, Mr. Takashi would have forgiven him either way but it might have taken him longer if Lance hadn’t said that. Keith didn’t know what Lance could possibly gain from saving his ass and wanted more than anything to pull him out of class and ask him. 

But the two minute bell rang and Mr. Takashi was ushering him out the door, reminding him to be on time, so he pushed it to the back of his mind for now. Besides, he would have plenty of time to ask about it in the two hours they would be spending together after school in Mr. Zarkon’s classroom. 

The rest of the day droned on without much else taking place other than the usual mundanity. Keith now had a splitting headache and his nose was burning. He wanted nothing more than to sprint out of the school and never come back but unfortunately that wasn’t an option he could afford. No, missing a detention, especially one of Mr. Zarkon’s, would result in three more and a parent phone call which he definitely didn’t want. 

The only thing worse than being punished by your parents (he assumed) was being punished by people who weren’t your parents. There was always this unspoken and lingering awkwardness in the room where both sides questioned whether they had the authority to enact a punishment on the child. Especially when Keith wasn’t a child. He may have been young but in terms of mental maturity, he was far beyond most of the teenagers his age. Because of this, his foster parents were often intimidated and disliked punishing him as it didn’t feel like their place. Keith made it even worse by accepting the minor punishment without any fuss and with complete maturity, muttering an “okay” and walking into his room. They could ground him, take away his phone, anything and no matter what he wouldn’t care. It was unnerving to them, and Keith didn’t want either one of them to have to go through that any more than necessary. 

Thankfully, Keith finished off the day without getting into any more trouble, mindlessly playing through the motions as he dreaded going to hell on Earth. Two whole hours with his two favorite people. He couldn’t fucking wait. The last bell of the day rang and after stalling at the bathroom, the water fountain, and his locker there was nowhere left to go but to his impending doom. He shouldered his bag, raised his head, and strode down the hall and into Room 905. 

Mr. Zarkon was sitting at his desk wearing a face just as terrifying and vicious as the rumors about him. Keith wrinkled his nose. Lance was already sitting in the seat closest to the window at the front of the room, probably wanting to beat Keith there as if everything they did was a competition. He looked a bit scared or at the very least, nervous. Lance may have been a moron but he wasn’t used to getting in trouble like this. Of course he had stayed after school for detention a few times, but he wasn’t a veteran like Keith. His punishments generally came in the form of warnings and shorter sentences. And they never came with a teacher like Mr. Zarkon. 

Although it was his first detention with the intimidating man as well, Keith wasn’t worried. He’d had plenty of afternoon dates with teachers who hated him a hell of a lot more than Mr. Zarkon did and he knew the drill. He put his head down, did his homework, and behaved like the model student he had refused to be during class. As long as Lance did the same, it would be painless. Nothing could go wrong, right?

“Sit down,” Mr. Zarkon boomed, his voice commanding full attention as he gestured to a seat at the front, one row from Lance’s desk. He sunk into the chair and fiddled with a sliver of paper left behind on the desk. 

“The two of you have violated the rules of this school and will now face the consequences. You will sit here for exactly two hours. No talking, no bathroom breaks, and no technology will be tolerated during this time. Oh, but do not worry, boys, I realize this may be tedious for you and an inefficient use of time spent in the classroom, so I have taken the liberty to devise an activity for you during your stay,” he said, his voice changing from the monotonous, clinical tone, to a darker, sweeter coloring. The fangs of his smile were now laced with venom, his sadistic manner shaping his words. “You will be writing a five page essay on the offense of your actions and the misuse of violence in the school,” the boys groaned and Mr. Zarkon continued to ruin their afternoon. “The assignment will be due at the end of the two hours. If you fail to finish or treat it as a joke, you will be returning here tomorrow afternoon for another two hours to finish the assignment. Are we clear?” He said, not waiting for the boys to answer but placing five pieces of paper on each of their desks in two decisive motions. Keith let his head fall on the papers and the hard desktop with a thud. Lance was already scribbling like mad, his hand a blur moving back and forth across the lined paper. Mr. Zarkon was practically humming. 

\--

The clock was about to hit the the one hour mark and Keith was sure his hand was falling off. He’d started writing soon after the time had started when Mr. Zarkon had barked at him and hadn’t stopped since. He was sure that he’d written the exact same sentences at least four times as he was now finishing up his third paper. Keith had never been very good at writing long essays, not because he was a bad writer but because his style was short and direct. He didn’t dawdle and dance around the point but said it in one neat sentence, using the minimum amount of words to convey his message. 

Lance, on the other hand, looked to be struggling for a different reason. Even when he was silent, he was loud. Lance hadn’t said any words, per se, since the two hours had begun and yet Mr. Zarkon had shushed him at least six different times now. He couldn’t help it. Every few seconds he would change positions or bounce his pencil on the desktop. His foot was tapping a mile a minute, and whenever he got stuck on a paragraph he released a strained “hmmmm.” A few seconds would pass and then, in a millisecond, his pencil was in his hand and he was furiously jotting down the information spilling from his head. He worked in sprints, and when he ran out of steam, he would take a minute to collect his thoughts before repeating the cycle again. Lance’s writing was a rollercoaster ride. Once again, it wasn’t bad, but it was scrambled, unorganized and sloppy. There was a sense of urgency that Lance thrived on when writing, like if he didn’t record everything right then it would be gone forever. Watching Lance’s brain work gave Keith a headache. 

Keith flipped to his fourth paper, but before his pencil hit the page, the door opened. In walked Ms. Haggar, the tenth grade chemistry teacher and another one of the most hated teachers at Voltron High. She hid it well but Keith recognized a hint of panic in the rigidity of her face. He’d seen it in the mirror too many times not to know the signs. She was afraid. Whether Mr. Zarkon noticed this or not, he didn’t know. She calmly walked over to his desk, her gait betraying nothing and whispered, too low for Keith to hear, in Mr. Zarkon’s ear. His eyes widened ever so slightly, and he abruptly stood up. He started for the door, but then as if he had forgotten they existed, eyed the boys. 

“I have urgent business to attend to that requires my immediate attention. I will send for someone to take over for me, but I cannot wait for them. While I’m gone, I expect you to continue working on your essays and to abide by the rules I established at the beginning. Carry on,” he said and strode out the door, Ms. Haggar close at his heels. 

Keith glanced over at Lance who met his gaze. 

“If he’s calling a substitute, he’s still going to want to see our work, right?” Lance said already turning his attention back to his abandoned papers.

“I guess. At least he’s not breathing down our necks anymore, though.” _And we can talk to each other now._ The statement sat in the room, unsaid but understood, creating a sense of awkwardness in the silence that hadn’t existed when it had been imposed upon them. 

Lance, of course, was the first to break it. “So, what did you write? You know, so far?”

“Oh, uh, you know, the usual bullshit. I realize that my actions were wrong and that violence is never the answer, etc. Stuff like that.”

“Really? And here I thought you were a rebel,” Lance was grinning, the thrill of the challenge shining in his eyes. 

“And what did you write, James Dean?” 

“First of all, thank you for the great compliment, I don’t know how it took you this long to see the resemblance,” Keith rolled his eyes, “and second of all, I wrote that ‘while I understand that violence is unacceptable in a learning environment, when the receiver of the alleged offensive acts is an hijo de puta, I feel that my actions, though not right, can at least be considered justifiable.” 

Keith glared at him. “Just because I don’t know Spanish doesn’t mean I don’t know that you were insulting me, and Mr. Zarkon will too. You know he’s going to be reading these and that he can just google what you wrote, right? You’re lucky I’m even warning you about this after what you said about me.”

“You don’t even know what I said about you, and so what? As long as everything else is fine, he’s not going to give me detention again, because I wrote the _truth_ in my essay. And besides, you heard him, he’s got better things to do than analyze our dumb papers, he probably just skims them then throws them in the trash.”

Keith let out a heavy breath, trying not to pummel the idiot next to him for the second time. “Whatever, it’s not like I’ll be the one sitting in here for another two hours. Do what you want.”

Keith focused on finishing his paper and for the next fifteen minutes, they sat in silence again, engulfed in their work. 

_Poke._ “Keith.” _Poke. Poke._ “Ke-ith. Keeeiiiitthhh.”

“What?!” Keith snarled, just as Lance retracted the finger that had been digging into Keith’s side. 

“I’m booored.” Lance had moved to the seat next to him after completing his essay three minutes ago and hadn’t sat still after that. 

“Well, I’m not done yet, so leave me alone. Why do you want to talk to me anyway, don’t you hate my guts? Just play on your phone if you’re bored.” 

“I can’t, it died in seventh period,” Lance said in the perfect imitation of a toddler. 

“And I don’t hate you,” he mumbled, shifting his eyes to the whiteboard and studying its contents. 

Keith lifted his head. “What? You insult me and challenge me every day, always saying I’m your rival and getting pissed off at me. But, no, you’re right. We’re totally besties.” 

“Okay, please promise not to say besties ever again. And just because we fight a lot doesn’t mean I _hate_ you, I just… I don’t know, okay? But, I don’t hate you.”

Maybe that was why he hadn’t told Mr. Takashi about the clinic.

“Alright, good to know. The guy who annoys me everyday doesn’t hate me just really, really dislikes me. I’m jumping for joy.” Just one more sentence and he was home free. 

“That’s not what I meant-- wait are you finished? Finally! Now, we can do something,” said Lance, disregarding the fact that he and Keith had given each other matching bloody noses earlier that day. 

“What are we supposed to do? We’re still stuck in this classroom.”

“God, you’re so dull. Have a little imagination, Keith, or is that too much to ask?” Lance teased, inspecting the room for something to curb his boredom. 

“No, I just-- Lance, what are you doing?” 

Lance’s head peeked out of the cabinet he’d been digging in. 

“Just looking around. Ooh, snacks!” Lance pulled out what looked like green jello and a plastic spoon. 

“Lance! Don’t eat his food!” 

Too late. Lance swished the empty container in the trashcan and came back to sit next to Keith. He was even closer now than before. He smelled like pinewood and spearmint. Keith shifted away from the endearing scent. It was strangely intoxicating, and he didn’t want it going to his head. 

“Well we can’t just sit here doing nothing for the next forty-five minutes. I’ll die!”

“You can do whatever you want. Unlike you, my phone didn’t die, so I’m going to listen to music.”

“What? No fair, only two player activities!”

Keith unraveled his earbuds and tapped on his music app. 

“Nope, sorry but you’re just going to have to find-- hey!” 

Lance had snatched the left earbud from him just as Keith was placing it in his ear. 

“Come on! I promise I won’t make fun of your music no matter how lame and emo it is. I just need something to distract me.”

Keith sighed, “Fine. But one complaint and you’re out, got it?”

Lance nodded, his eyes wide and his mouth upturned as he put the earbud in his ear and pushed the desk he was sitting in up to Keith’s. Their knees were touching and Keith’s heart was racing. _What the hell?_ He was sure his face was burning, but that was stupid, right? I mean this is Lance we’re talking about. _Yeah, it’s probably nothing_ his mind rationalized as his heart ignored the excuses. 

“...Are you going to press play?” Lance said interrupting his inner monologue. 

“Right, yeah, sorry.” 

The first few notes of the song played and Lance gasped and turned to him, giving Keith a heart attack. 

“I love this song! The Bad Suns are so good! Wait, why do you listen to them?” he said contempt creeping into his voice at the end. 

“Are you seriously criticizing me for listening to music that you like? And, what did you think I listened to?”

“I don’t know like sad, creepy music or something. Not this.” 

Oh, Christ. Lance was shaking both of their desks with his dancing, hips swaying and arms swinging in his seat. His mouth was moving to match the words and occasionally he would hum the melody. He turned to Keith and mouthed the lyrics to him, not worrying about whether he would be made fun of or not. And Keith thought it was adorable. He tried to stop staring, to rip his eyes from the boy with the bright eyes and the carefree smile but he couldn’t. God, what was this kid doing to him?

Keith tried to fight it but he couldn’t resist any longer. There was a smile on his face. Put there by Lance. Damnit. He covered his mouth and turned his head to the side, inspecting the white brick and hoping Lance wouldn’t notice the red blossoming in his cheeks. 

After a few more songs, Keith’s battery was practically depleted, so he stowed it back in his bookbag much to Lance’s dismay. They had about a half hour left and no one had showed up in Mr. Zarkon’s place. They were beginning to think it was an empty threat to stop them from leaving but decided not to test it. 

“What are we supposed to do know, Mr. Imagination?” Keith said.

“Oh, good one. I don’t know, my brain’s too tired from a full day of school, an almost concussion,” he said with a pointed stare at Keith, “and that stupid essay. You come up with something this time.”

“I’m not exactly overflowing with great ideas over here, either. I guess we’ll just have to sit here unless you’d rather revise your paper, hijo de puta,” Keith said, employing the insult Lance had used for him, despite not knowing its literal translation. Judging from the daggers Lance was glaring at him, it wasn’t very nice. 

Lance’s face relaxed and he said, hesitantly, “We could...talk. I mean there’s nothing else to do and I’m not sure I can survive another second staring at Mr. Zarkon’s weekly homework agenda.” Lance was full on flustered now, his dark skin tinged with pink. 

Keith ignored his rebellious heart’s flip flop and spoke up, “You may not have have noticed but that’s not exactly my area of expertise.” Lance’s face dropped, crestfallen and Keith hated himself. Fuck. “I mean, what would we even talk about?”

Lance’s face brightened in an instant and Keith thought that wasn’t fair. “You transferred here in October, right? Why did you come at such a weird time?”

“Ugh. Anything but that.” Keith did _not_ want to get into that right now. 

“What?! Now, you have to tell me. You can’t just make it sound so interesting, and then keep the story to yourself.” Lance looked at him expectantly, wearing his largest puppy dog eyes. Keith was weak.

“Well, it’s not that big of a deal, but don’t go spreading it around, alright? I don’t want people bothering me about it.” 

“I won’t! I swear,” Lance assured him, but Keith didn’t trust his big mouth for a minute Even so, he relented. 

“I was expelled,” Keith said, keeping his face even. 

“What?! You were actually expelled? What did you do? Did you beat someone up? Like put them in the hospital, or something?”

“Woah, woah, geez, slow down, one at a time. And, yeah, I, uh, sort of, punched my teacher. In the face.” Keith didn’t think it was possible for Lance’s eyes to grow any bigger. 

“WHAT?! How did I not know this? How does no one know this? I mean I knew you were crazy and reckless but to punch your teacher… How are you even still in school?”

“I didn’t just do it for the hell of it, asshole,” Keith growled. This is why he hadn’t wanted anyone to know. They always assumed that he was the one who had done something wrong, but he didn’t regret his actions then and he definitely didn’t now. 

“Then, why did you?”

“He was a total creep. He was a gym teacher and was always saying gross things to the girls in our class and staring at them. One day, when the rest of us were running the mile, a girl had cramps so she opted to run it next week and was sitting next to him on the bleachers. Well, I finished first ahead of my class and saw that he was leaning in close to her and whispering in her ear. She had this pained, uncomfortable look on her face, so I went over to them, hoping he would knock it off when he saw me. That was when he put his hand on her inner thigh. Right in the middle of class and in front of me. I couldn’t just stand there and watch him sexually harass her,” Keith took a deep breath, grounding himself as the anger resurfaced. “Actually, I don’t remember much of what happened after that. The next thing I knew, three administrators were pulling me off of him and he was knocked out. The girl told them what happened and he was fired, but I was still expelled because of my extensive disciplinary record and the fact that, yes, I did put him in the hospital.”

Lance was speechless for a minute. He was staring at Keith, and he almost asked him what he was thinking when Lance beat him to it. 

“What the actual fuck? All you did was beat up some nasty motherfucker and you got expelled for it? That’s fucking ridiculous, that’s insane!” Lance’s face was red, his eyebrows shoving against one another and his mouth a hard angry line. Keith was shocked. No one had ever gotten this mad for him before. He couldn’t believe that the Lance that he’d bloodied hours ago was now trying to defend his honor. It was too much. 

“They shouldn’t have been able to-- Keith, what are yo-- are you laughing? What the hell?” 

Keith sputtered in between laughs, “I- I’m sorry it’s just, you’re more angry than I was and I’m just not u-used to people caring so much.”

Lance gave him a strange look. “What do you mean? Weren’t your parents mad?”

Keith’s laughter died down when he said parents. Fuck. Time to make things even more awkward. “Ahh, well, people can’t really ask questions from the grave, but my foster parents were, though not at the school.” Keith knew he shouldn’t have said it like that, that it was unfair to Lance, but he thought he was allowed a little angst when it was the truth. 

It took Lance a minute before he understood but when he did, Keith wished he’d just lied and brushed it off. “Shit, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know.” 

Great, there goes the light atmosphere. Well, it hadn’t been light, but it had been better than this. Keith could practically feel the air around them tighten and form into a tangible, unsettling presence. Lance was looking down now, his shame and discomfort easily visible on his face. He was an open book.

“Hey, don’t worry about it, okay? It wasn’t your fault, and I shouldn’t have said it like that. Besides, it was a long time ago, I’m over it,” he said, although they both knew it wasn’t something you just “got over.” Nowadays, he preferred to keep it as far back in his mind as he could, only visiting those dark thoughts when absolutely necessary. Keith felt odd comforting someone about his dead parents, but Lance needed it more than he did at the moment. Lance seemed to realize this as well and sent a strange little smile in Keith’s direction that his heart hadn’t been prepared for. He wanted to leave, escape whatever this was, and yet the thought of being somewhere where Lance wasn’t did not appeal to him. 

Lance started to speak again but then stopped abruptly, confusion shrouding his expression. 

“Wait, what was that you said about your foster parents again? That they weren’t mad at the school? What did you mean by that?” 

Lance looked worried all over again and though Keith didn’t understand why, he simultaneously hated and loved that expression. While part of him wanted to lift his hand to Lance’s face and smooth out the harsh creases that looked out of place on his typically untroubled face, another enjoyed causing that look as worry was a side effect of caring. Keith suppressed a shiver. These peculiar thoughts were starting to unnerve him. 

“They were pissed at me for getting expelled. Even though I don’t regret what I did, I can understand that. I’d already been expelled from one school, and then I went and got expelled from this one too. 

“You mean they didn’t fight for you?”

“Huh?” What did Lance mean did they fight for him? Why would they?

“I would have fought for you. I would have gone down to that stupid school and told them to let you back in. And to fuck off. Then, when they apologized and accepted you, I would politely decline their offer because they didn’t deserve having you in their school. Boom.” Keith’s facade broke. “Stop laughing! I’m serious!”

“I know, that’s what makes it so funny,” Keith choked out, still snickering at Lance’s no-nonsense face and his hilarious threat. 

“It’s also funny because in third period today, you, tackled me to the ground and smashed my face in and now you’re acting like a protective mother.”

“Alright, we both know that you threw the first punch, so don’t even deny it. And that’s because that was before I knew that you were a human being. I mean don’t get me wrong you are still extremely annoying but not all of you is I guess.”

“I’m the annoying one?” Keith exclaimed over how incredulous Lance’s claim was. “Lance, you literally cannot stay still for longer than a second,” Keith pointed to his fingertips rapidly tapping on the desktop, “and never shut up. Even when no one is talking to you, you continue to talk to yourself or the air, I don’t know, but it is nonstop. There is no possible way that I’m the annoying one.” 

“Look, it’s not about how much noise you make, it’s your attitude. You’re always nonchalant and apathetic about everything and it’s infuriating. You don’t half-ass anything but it’s like everything you do is just another chore. And yet you never fail. I work and work to be the best and put all my passion into reaching my goal only to lose to you who wouldn’t care either way. Everyone thinks you’re so cool but you still keep up the lone wolf act which makes them want you even more.” Lance was panting, having worked himself up.

Keith could feel the anger washing through him, spreading up from the base of his stomach, to his chest, and into his throat.

“What are you even saying? You think I don’t care? Of course I do but when I’m the only one who does, sorry if it’s difficult for me to show it on my face. And, everyone thinks I’m cool? Really? I’m a high school student and I only have two friends who are honestly more like glorified acquaintances. All you have to do is open your mouth and people flock to you. I mean I don’t mind being alone but sometimes it would be nice to have someone I could at least just share space with.” Keith paused, breathing hard. “Fuck, why am I even telling you all this. This is all your fault for wanting to talk. Just forget everything I said, okay?”

“Keith--”

“No, Lance. I’m done talking,” Keith said, the finality in his words unwavering.

Lance waited a beat and then said, “Well, I’m not. Just about everything you do pisses me off.” 

“Gee, thanks, got anymore pick me ups?”

“Hold on, I’m not finished. Everything you do pisses me off. Whether you beat me at grades, girls, or whatever else, I’ve vowed to surpass you in all areas. Which means that I care about what you do. A lot. Honestly, probably more than you do. In fact, I care so much about what you do that I win against caring about you. So, don’t you dare go spouting that shit anymore, okay? Because you’re wrong.”

Keith’s eyes were watering. He didn’t know why but they were glazed over with unshed tears. He hadn’t cried since he was a child. There was no way that he was getting emotional now. There was probably just something in his eyes. Now that he thought about it, his eyes had been bothering him for a while. Maybe it was late-blooming allergies. Keith wasn’t sure if could handle any other explanation. 

“Keith? Keith, are you okay?” Lance questioned, concern leaking into his voice. Keith wanted to scream. 

Keith didn’t know this Lance. The Lance he knew was stupid, moronic, immature, childish, petty, everything this Lance was not. The Lance he knew wanted to be the best for the sake of rubbing it in other’s faces and ridiculing them. The Lance he knew didn’t make his heart speed up and his skin feel warm. The Lance he knew, he realized, did not exist.

Because the one he was seeing now was the one that everyone else saw. The one that everyone was drawn to, that Hunk had described to him. The one that would do anything for the people he loved when they needed him. This Lance was comforting him on the same day he’d hit him and had danced in the desk next to him and had lit up in amazement at their simple physics project. Before he’d only caught glimpses and couldn’t make them out, but now he saw through his blurred vision. Keith had been blind. This Lance was _the_ Lance. And he wanted him to be his Lance. 

He crushed his hands, balled into tight fists, into his eye sockets to intercept the stray streams. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m completely fine there was just some dust in my,” sniffle, “eyes.” Fortunately, his eyes seemed to get the message and leave him alone, but Lance obviously knew that he had cried. But instead of making fun of him, he just grabbed one of Keith’s hands in his, unwinding the white knuckles from their unstable knot. Keith’s eyes met Lance’s and told him what his mouth couldn’t. _Thank you._

They were close now and neither of them wanted to back away. Both of their hearts beating in sink, rapidly increasing with their touch. Lance let go of Keith’s hand and traded it for the nape of his neck. Keith’s breath hitched at the sudden contact of large, yet soft hands on his skin. Lance’s fingers journeyed up into the strands of his hair and burrowed into the soft, black fluff. Keith lifted himself off the desk a bit and moved closer to Lance wrapping his arms around the boy’s neck when Lance’s other hand landed on his back. They’re foreheads were touching and it felt like a fever spreading between them both, hot and infectious. Keith closed his eyes and breathed in to steady himself. Lance was now impossibly close and he whispered to Keith, his tone playful, “You getting scared?” Keith’s eyes opened slowly and he stared directly into Lance’s brown eyes before whispering back, “I’m not scared.” The two boys moved together, toward each other, once more, only a breath away now, getting closer with each blink of their eyes, as their lips touched ever so slightly and parted... _Wham!_ The door slammed open and they jumped apart, detaching their tangled limbs in an instant. 

Mr. Zarkon was standing in the door with a furious and downright pants-wetting expression marring his face that was, luckily, not directed at the two of them. He’d been glowering at something or someone down the hall and hadn’t noticed their newfound closeness. He turned his head to enter the room and jumped a bit when he saw them sitting there. It would have been funny, if they weren’t currently sweating in their seats and fearing for their lives. The adrenaline was still pumping in Keith’s veins and he wasn’t sure if it would ever leave his system after that exhilarating experience. 

“What are you two doing?” Fuck. They were so dead. “If you’re done with your essays, go home. Your two hours ended thirteen minutes ago. There was no one available to watch over you but I didn’t have time to do anything about that. But, if you finished the assignment it doesn’t matter. Now, leave, I have work to do.” 

He didn’t need to tell them twice. The two boys grabbed their bags and rushed past him and out of his lair with lightning speed. They exited the school building in record time, still trying to burn out the nervous energy that had surfaced after the unpredictable day they’d both had. When they got to the student parking lot, they were equally out of breath and took a minute to collect themselves, physically and mentally. 

“Are we… ummm-- Are we still…” Lance said, failing to form a complete sentence as he wasn’t quite sure what he was asking. Keith straightened his back and his resolve. He placed his hands on either side of Lance’s face and closed the distance. The kiss was chaste and short and wonderful and exactly the answer Lance needed. “Does this answer your question?” Keith said his eyes beaming like stars, contrasting with the straight line of his mouth. “Of course only if you want to. I mean I don’t know if you have anyone that…” Keith was the one rambling for a change, self-doubt fueling his mouth with useless words to say. 

“Keith.” 

Keith lifted his face and Lance planted a peck on his open mouth.  
“Does this answer your question?” Lance said, smirking at Keith’s flustered state. 

“You’re such an asshole,” Keith said and promptly spun on his heel, storming off toward his red motorcycle. 

“Keith, wait!” Lance called, but he hadn’t needed to because Keith whipped around a second before he said it. 

His poker face sealed his true emotions as he demanded, “Hold out your arm.”

Lance was confused but in order not to upset Keith again, he extended his left arm slightly nervous but excited none the less. Keith dug around in his pocket for a few seconds before pulling a pen out of his skin tight jeans. He grabbed Lance’s wrist and tugged inward a little before popping the cap off in his small, red mouth, teeth holding it in place. Lance gulped. 

Keith jotted down a series of numbers on Lance’s bare skin, capped the pen, and returned it to his pocket. Keith had written his number on Lance’s arm like they were in some 80s teen movie, and Lance was at a loss for words for the first time in his life. 

Keith looked up then and winked at him. “Call me sometime, James Dean.” He smiled, his mouth playful and flirtatious and unlike anything Lance had seen before. Then, he strode over to his motorcycle, flipped his gorgeous hair around like in the movies and put his helmet on. Keith swung his leg over the bike, revved the engine, and ripped out of the parking lot as if he hadn’t just taken Lance’s heart with him. 

Lance walked back to his car in a daze and finally opened the door on his third try. He knew Keith was just messing with him. There was no way that he had seriously done something that cheesy. It was all a show, meant to be funny. So, why was it so sexy instead? Keith’s confidence normally irritated Lance but now it made him weak at the knees. 

“Dios mio,” Lance muttered as he turned his key in the ignition. He drove his blue car away from the school, but the memories of the day lingered. He was surprised he didn’t get a ticket on the way home as he was speeding the entire time. He tried to reign himself in, but he couldn’t help it. His self control now belonged to the devil that had stamped him with their number and that he was currently rushing home to call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never got detention because I was a good noodle, so I hope I wrote that part right. I tried to make Zarkon like Umbridge, but I think the school board would be against blood quills so he’s only somewhat like her. Also, Keith and Lance are dorks. What's new?
> 
> Twitter (for art stuff): https://twitter.com/tori_teague  
> Tumblr (for voltrash stuff): http://the-incrediblydeadly-viper.tumblr.com/


	3. Nemeses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the epilogue that I probably shouldn't have written, but everyone wants to know if they became boyfriends or not, right? Not like it was obvious in the last chapter or anything. Recommended playlist: Nemeses by Jonathan Coulton

Keith had been right. Mr. Zarkon did read their papers word for word. And he did use Google translate. Which was why Lance would be staying after school with him to rewrite his essay this afternoon, while Keith was free. Lance had been grumbling about it all day and Keith never failed to remind him that he had warned him. Lance would then stick his tongue out at him like a distraught child which Keith found absolutely adorable. 

Truthfully, Keith had been nervous about going to school today. After he’d gotten home, Lance had called him, and they proceeded to talk deep into the night, going so far as to schedule a date for that night, but a lot could change upon waking up. They hadn’t talked at all in the morning and Keith was walking on pins and needles all the way to third period. He held his breath as he stepped into the doorway and looked at their lab table, only to let out a sigh of relief. Lance wasn’t there yet, so at least he had the upper hand. He pulled out his phone, pretending to check his barren twitter feed and kept the doorway in his periphery. Class was starting in a little under a minute, but Lance was late to physics at least three times a week, so Keith relaxed a bit. Some things never change.

Sure enough, at the last second, Lance dashed into the classroom, narrowly missing the door as Mr. Takashi closed it to begin class. The board had already informed Keith that they would be working on their lab write ups today, so he tuned out Mr. Takashi and focused his full attention on his lab partner. Lance was bent over his backpack, scrambling to pull his textbook, paper, and pencil out of his bag. He hadn’t even looked at Keith, and Keith’s stomach was churning, the lump in his throat growing larger and larger. He had prepared himself for this outcome. Knew it was a very real possibility. So, why did he want to rip apart the tangled mess that his heart had become? 

Keith looked down at his phone again, not seeing anything, and bit the inside of his cheek until he tasted the familiar, metallic tang of his own blood. He would be fine. He’d gone through worse. He just had to put it behind him and forget everything. Simple. He tightened his grip on his phone and his knuckles turned white. 

Keith gasped. He felt something touch his leg. There was a _hand_ on his thigh. His eyes shot up, following the trail of the hand that was invading his space. Lance was looking directly at him. 

“Hey, do you have an eraser I can borrow? I couldn’t find one and…” Keith gaped at him. 

“Keith? Earth to Keith. Are you alright?” 

Keith snapped out of his trance and said, “Oh, yeah, sure. Give me a second.”  
He shifted away from Lance and hid the malignant smile on his face. He fucking swore this kid would be the death of him, pulling shit like that. Digging around in his bag, he found a blue eraser and threw it at Lance who caught it with ease. 

“Thanks. Sorry I didn’t text you this morning, I woke up late,” Lance said and grabbed Keith’s hand under the table as if this was an ordinary habit that they had always had. Keith supposed it was now. He laced his hand in Lance’s and smiled at the boy next to him. 

“Keith? Why are you smiling? You’re freaking me out.”

“My smile is freaking you out? What a nice thing to say to your hot date tomorrow night.” 

Lance blushed and said, “W-Well, you’re not usually this… smiley. You’re usually more gloomy like you have a personal storm cloud shadowing you or something. You can’t blame me for being a little creeped out.”

“Oh, of course, my bad. Take all the time you need, then, to get used to it.” 

Keith rolled his eyes, keeping his apparently creepy smile plastered to his face. Not like he could control it when this idiot’s fingers were wrapped up in his own. Mr. Takashi finished his explanation of the assignment, throwing a look their way when he mentioned what to write if the lab hadn’t gone smoothly. He sat down and the classroom filled with noise as groups brainstormed how to complete the work with the least amount of effort. Keith let go of Lance’s hand and swapped it for his pen. He was a bit reluctant to detach himself from Lance, but the feeling was replaced by anticipation for the next time they joined hands. All the doubt he’d felt earlier had been washed away when Lance touched him. Because Lance’s hand had been an offering and an invitation. It meant that Keith was allowed to touch Lance as well. 

At the end of third period, his heart was pounding heavily, beating against his chest and he couldn’t for the life of him remember what he’d written on the lab writeup. He felt a bit silly, getting worked up over simply being beside Lance, but at the same time he didn’t want the feelings to fade. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt something this pure.

Lance walked Keith to Computer Science, holding his hand the entire way. They didn’t talk about it, and they didn’t have to. They understood each other. Lance released his hold on Keith when they got close to the classroom. He waved to Keith and started down the hallway in the opposite direction. Not four steps away, he stopped, spun around and strode back over to where Keith was standing with one eyebrow raised. Lance grabbed him by the shoulders and gave him a swift peck on the forehead before turning quickly and rushing down the hall in a failed attempt to hide his flushed face. Keith chuckled. _Lance is such a dork._

\--

Keith was surprised at how little his life changed with Lance in it. They still fought like hell, quarreling over the dumbest things. Except now their fights ended in laughter and kisses instead of busted lips and black eyes. Keith still had an embarrassingly small amount of friends. Except now Lance would introduce him to his friends and they would wave at him in the hallways. Keith still spent lunch in the library, buried underneath piles of space books. Except now Lance’s head was resting in his lap as they read next to each other. Nothing was different, just a better version of what it had been before. And Keith couldn’t be happier. Of course, he didn’t show it on his face like Lance who couldn’t stop grinning whenever they were together (except when Keith teased him about it.) But he smiled more and felt himself grow not only more comfortable with Lance but with himself as well.

Another surprise that had come out of their relationship was that Keith’s school conduct had improved because of it. His foster parents were ecstatic as he stopped skipping school and getting into fights. Lance gave him a reason to attend class and whenever he felt rage take over his body, Lance was there to calm him down. He would take Keith’s hands and pull him into his chest, holding him there until Keith had stopped shaking. The sound of Lance’s heartbeat soothed him like nothing else. 

One thing he hadn’t expected and was still getting used to was how affectionate Lance was. Whenever they were together, Lance was touching him, whether it was an arm wrapped around his waist, a hand buried in his hair, a finger tracing patterns on his back. Keith was not an affectionate person by nature and was still adjusting to Lance’s spontaneous touches. It wasn’t that he didn’t like them, but that he didn’t know how to react to them. He had told Lance this, after he had hugged him from behind and Keith had jumped about three feet in the air. Lance’s face had resembled that of a kicked puppy and Keith felt terrible. After their talk, Lance had promised to take that into account but nothing had changed as most of the little touches were unconscious reactions anyway. But Keith didn’t mind. He found that he looked forward to them the more he warmed up to Lance. 

Keith and Lance were not the perfect couple. Though they had more similarities than they’d previously thought before they got together, their differences constantly caused problems in their relationship. Their fights could go on for days and consisted of either no communication or screaming at each other for hours. Though the reasoning behind their disputes varied, the resolution was almost always the same. Keith and Lance were both ridiculously stubborn but Lance was a dependent person and Keith would obsess over their argument until he drove himself insane. Lance would crack first, and call Keith at three a.m. on the verge of tears and ready to apologize and Keith would answer the phone with an “I’m sorry.” They lost their way often, but it was because they knew that they could always find their way back to each other. 

Needless to say, Mr. Takashi was pleased to see that on their next lab, they earned a perfect score.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, they are so young and innocent in this. Anyway, thanks for reading, and I'll be doing some stuff for klance week so look out for that! 
> 
> Twitter (for art stuff): https://twitter.com/tori_teague  
> Tumblr (for voltrash stuff): http://the-incrediblydeadly-viper.tumblr.com/


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